Jay Ward

Joseph Ward Cohen Jr. (September 20, 1920 – October 12, 1989), also known as Jay Ward, was an American creator and producer of animated TV cartoon shows. He produced animated series based on such characters as Crusader Rabbit, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Dudley Do-Right, Peabody and Sherman, Hoppity Hooper, George of the Jungle, Tom Slick, and Super Chicken. His own company, Jay Ward Productions, designed the trademark characters for the Cap'n Crunch, Quisp, and Quake breakfast cereals and it made TV commercials for those products. Ward produced the non-animated series Fractured Flickers (1963) that featured comedic redubbing of silent films. Early life Jay Ward was born Joseph Ward Cohen Jr., the son of Joseph Ward Cohen (1890–1967) and Mercedes Juanita (née Troplong) Ward (1892–1972). He was raised in Berkeley, California, attending Frances E. Willard Intermediate School as "J. Ward". He obtained his undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1947, he obtained his MBA from Harvard Business School. Early career In 1947, the first day that Ward opened his first real estate office at the corner of Ashby and Claremont, a runaway truck crashed through the building and pinned Ward. While recuperating, Ward decided to animate cartoons, but kept his real estate business, later moving it to Domingo Avenue and then Tunnel Road, where it stayed, in Berkeley, even after Ward moved to Los Angeles. He later received incorrect medical treatment while hyperventilating in an airplane. He then developed agoraphobia.